nemo for christmas

[ebosshard]

My 220g tank has now cycled as well as I can tell. No nitrites (peaked a week ago) and just a speck of ammonia). salinity is ok at 1.0215. temp steady at 79.3. ph fine at 8.2. no meaningful nitrates to speak of.

Tank has been up for 4-5 weeks with 175lbs of live rock and 100lbs of live sand.

5 damsels in for 2 weeks and doing fine. 10-12 crabs keeping it clean.

Now, my plan has been to go buy "nemo" tomorrow night (santa's surprise for my kids) and i need some advice before i ask the geniuses at the lfs the same questions.

1-in a 220g tank can i have more than 1 nemo (think i would like 2).
2-can i put an anemone in their for him now? do i have to?
3-anyway I can add dory the blue tang tomorrow night as well?

thanks

Eric

 

[kparton]

Congrats on getting the tank up and running. You'll love your new false perc(s).

You have plenty of room in your tank for 2 "nemos." The only thing you need to remember is to get 2 juveniles (the smallest ones they have) whic are usually readily availabl. Also, make sure and get tank raised as they will acclimate better to your tank. The purpose for getting two juveniles is because they will fight a bit and one will be dominant, the dominant fish will grow larger and become female. All juvenile clownfish are males. If you happened to get two larger fish (females) they may fight to the death (although you do have a large tank).

As for the anemone, definitely wait on that for now. they will do just fine without it and it will be very difficult for you to keep it alive in your new tank.

As for the Powder Blue Tang (dory) I'd also wait on that just so you can learn about how the fish will react to acclimation. Tangs are very likely to exhibit Ich when stressed, and you probably should do a few acclimations of easier fish before that.

Good luck.

 

[ebosshard]

What exactly do you me by getting the tank raised?

Also, is it ok for me to put in a couple cleaner shrimps as well ("jacques")?

rest assured that I have read 3 books (conscientious marine aquarist the best) on marine acquariums so far, all of my learnings are not from the 100 times my kids have watched finding nemo.

also, any time frame I should be thinking about for putting in an anemenoe or the tang?

thanks again!!

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to RDO!

Tank raised = Captive bred.

What kind of clowns are you going for? (You realize there are several different species with slightly varrying preferences / habits correct?) - For the most part, theres probably a larger number of false percs (Amphiprion ocellaris) that are "tank raised"..

Anyway, some questions you should probably be asking yourself at this point...

Do you have adequate lighting? How are the rest of your water parameters? - Do you have good test kits? You have been using RO/DI water correct?

Please don't be offended, but you do sound like a new reefer even by my standards and I've only been "reefing" for a little over a year now... :?

 

[Dubge]

I got lucky! I added a yellow tang and a blue tang after a month (before I found this site and was going on recomendations from the LFS only) and they are doing great 2 months later! I had even changed tanks in that time from 45G to a 75G

Ray

 

[kparton]

It definitely can be done successfully, it's just probably not the best way to go about doing things.

For the tang, I'd wait until your percs are good and settled (1-2 months) and then add the tang. You'll have the opportunity to enjoy your clownfish and get an idea for what other fish you want. As for the anemone, you need to make sure you have adequate lighting and calcium levels as well as a host of other things to be careful of. There's no rule of thumb for how long to wait, I would put it off for 6 months anyway, just to let your tank get through all the algae cycles that may show up. If you have an anemone and you have a hair algae outbreak, you can't reduce your photoperiod to slow the algae, and then you're kindof stuck with it. I had vicious algae cycles and some people don't have them at all, it seems like there's no rhyme or reason to it sometimes. I used RO/DI water, a good skimmer and new lights and still had a ton of algae.

Good luck, the closest thing to "Nemo" is the false perc.

 

[kparton]

By the way, the cleaner shrimp will be fine going in. Just be careful to acclimate them extra slowly as they are more sensitive.

 

[ebosshard]

thanks for the help on my nemo questions.

I am a new reefer to say the least, and the inputs of this board are always insightful for me.

I do use RO/DI water, I think that is one of the reasons I have had good success with my levels to this point. Do have good test kits, and have begun testing for calcium and phospates.

Where do i need to be with lighting to get to my anemone going?

 

[Anonymous]

Pretty much as intense as possible.. - 250w or 400w metal halides are generally considered the best. But you might be able to get away with 175w or even some really strong power compact or T5 flourescents....

One thing you want to make sure of is what kind of anemone you go with... - Personally I'd recommend a bubble-tip just because there are more of them out now that are clones of successful anemones in other tanks. (Like captive bred fish, but anemones generally split into smaller ones which are called clones..)

For the most part, false percs will probably accept a bubble tip (entacmaea quadricolor) anemone if they have no better choice. There is a chart online though that will tell you what anemones play host to the different clown species. (All the anems for false percs tho are the more "difficult" to keep ones.. - I'd still recommend the BTA (Bubble Tip Anemone..)

Hope that helps...


Norm

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, and here's that chart....
http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib ... ticMap.htm

 

[ebosshard]

with a 220g tank and lights that you are talking about will i need a chiller? air temp downstairs around tank is kept steady around 68 yearround.

thanks for the link

 

[Anonymous]

You MIGHT be ok, but with lights that strong you'll most likely want an exhaust fan in the hood to take away some of the heat those lights put out.

Also another trick is to put a fan blowing into the sump. - This will increase evaporation but help in cooling.

If both of those don't help then yeah, you'll probably need a chiller.

 

[Dubge]

It definitely can be done successfully, it's just probably not the best way to go about doing things.

Ya I think I had some luck on my side because after finding this site I relized I should have done things differently!

Ray

 

[c0yote]

A word of caution - are your kids old enough to understand if "Dory goes bye-bye"? When near the tank, the first thing my 2 year old (and his friends) see is my false perc (Nemo) and "his daddy" (lettuce clip) - the other fish don't get nearly as much attention. One of the other fish could die and no one but me would notice, but if Nemo goes...

(Just a thought, as you didn't state how much experience you have with the week-in week-out chores of a SW tank). Maybe add a few other fish (over a few weeks/months) before 'Dory' goes into the tank?

Here's hoping your kids never try and "liberate" Nemo & his buddies from the tank- hide the net while you've got the chance